1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information transmitting method, a computer readable recording medium, and a program for allowing a computer to execute the information transmitting method, for executing information transmission through a network such as the Internet.
In particular, the present invention relates to a method for exchanging several kinds of information (also called data), in a short time and efficiently, by means of e-mail through the Internet, among a plurality of information processing apparatus such as work stations, personal computers, and word processors.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when data is transmitted from an information processing apparatus to other one in a network information processing system, the data is transmitted in a form of attached file. The xe2x80x9cattached filexe2x80x9d means a data file which is a file including data owned by a transmitter (i.e., a user at the transmitting end) and which is transmitted as an attachment to an electronic mail (usually abbreviated to an e-mail). A user at the receiving end who has received this data file can look at the same data file that the user at the transmitting end looked at.
If a capacity (or size) of the file which is to be attached is relatively large, it may burden (or over-load) the hard disk at the receiving end, or the mail server at the transmitting end or receiving end. In this case, the data file is compressed and attached to an e-mail message, or, the data file is copied into a web server or the like manually and then a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the data file is sent to the receiving end (in this case, the data file is not attached to an e-mail message). Here, the xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d is a description method used to identify a location in which a mail server is connected to the Internet, etc., i.e., a location in which the data file is stored.
A first example of conventional network information processing systems for executing information transmission through a network, such as the Internet, has a system configuration wherein an attached file in which a method for making access to a designated file is described is attached to an e-mail message and which is then transmitted to the receiving end as disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-3299. In this system configuration, the method for making access to the designated file must be always transmitted by using the e-mail, and thereby an amount of information to be transmitted increases accordingly. Since the attachment of the file in which the method for making access to the designated file is described is executed without any conditions, there may be a case in which an amount of data of the attached file is larger than an amount of data of the file which is to be transmitted, depending on the capacity (file size) of the file which is to be transmitted.
In addition, a second example of conventional network information processing systems has a system configuration wherein an attached file is transmitted by a particular mail server, based on the request of a mail client as disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-31636. In this system configuration, the attached file is transmitted independently of the capacity (or size) of the attached file. Therefore, if the capacity of the attached file is larger than the capacity of the specified file, it may burden the mail server. If the software of the mail server is changed in order to avoid the above disadvantage, it becomes impossible for a mail client, which depended on the mail server before the change of the software, to use the mail server.
As stated above, in the first or the second network information processing system, the user transmitting the e-mail makes a copy of the attached file which is to be transmitted into the web server, in order to decrease an amount of data of the attached file and to make the data size of the e-mail smaller. Consequently, it takes much time to transmit the attached file.
If a long URL for the file which has been stored in the web server is input by using a keyboard when sending the URL, an error in the URL often occurs due to a typographical error, etc. If a typographical error occurs, the URL must be sent again, and thereby it may causes an inconvenience to the user at the receiving end.
In more detail, according to the above conventional network information processing systems, a relatively large capacity of the attached file may burden the mail server at the transmitting end or the receiving end, or the hard disk at the receiving end. In order to avoid the above disadvantage, an attached file can be stored in a separate file server which can be referred to, and the URL corresponding to the separate file server is notified to another person at the receiving end.
However, in this case, the following procedures (1) to (3) must be executed manually, in order to register the URL of the file stored location in the file server and notify the above URL to another person. Therefore, it takes much unnecessary time and results in a complicated operation.
(1) Contents of the attached file are converted to a format which can be referred to, and are stored in a separate file server.
(2) The URL of the file storage location is input to the e-mail which is to be transmitted by using a keyboard.
(3) The e-mail is transmitted.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus, an information transmitting method, a computer readable recording medium, and a program for allowing a computer to execute the information transmitting method, which can save the transmitter""s trouble and reduce the processing load on a mail server even if the capacity of the file which is to be transmitted is relatively large.
In order to attain the above object, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus for transmitting information to a designated destination, the information processing apparatus comprising a file capacity judging unit which determines whether or not the capacity of a file which is designated to be transmitted to the destination is larger than a predetermined value, and also comprising a transmitting unit which transmits the file to an accessible storing unit and transmits an address of the storing unit to the destination, instead of transmitting the file, when it is determined that a capacity of the file is larger than the predetermined value.
Preferably, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a first setting unit which previously sets the address of the storing unit, and the transmitting unit transmits the file which is designated to be transmitted to the address.
Further, preferably, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a second setting unit which sets a password for limiting access to the file stored in the storing unit, and the transmitting unit transmits the password to the destination along with the address of the storing unit.
Further, preferably, the information processing apparatus is connected to a network, transmission of the information is controlled by a mail server connected to the network, and the transmitting unit requests the mail server to transmit the address of the storing unit to the destination.
Further, preferably, the information processing apparatus is connected to a network and transmits the information received, from a mail client connected to the network, to the destination of the information, and the file capacity judging unit determines a capacity of the file which has been included in the information received from the mail client, and the transmitting unit transmits the address of the storing unit to the designation, instead of the file which has been included in the information received from the mail client.
On the other hand, the present invention provides an information transmitting method for transmitting information to a designated destination, the information transmitting method including the step of determining whether or not the capacity of the file which is designated to be transmitted to the destination is larger than a predetermined value, and also including the step of transmitting the file to an accessible storing unit and transmitting an address of the storing unit to the designation, instead of transmitting the file when it is determined that the capacity of the file is larger than the predetermined value.
In addition, the present invention provides a computer readable recording medium which stores a program for allowing a computer to execute determining whether or not the capacity of a file which is designated to be transmitted to a destination is larger than a predetermined value, and to execute transmitting the file to a accessible storing unit and transmitting an address of the storing unit to the destination, instead of transmitting the file, when it is determined that the capacity of the file is larger than the predetermined value.
Further, the present invention provides a program for allowing a computer to execute determining whether or not the capacity of the file which is designated to be transmitted to a destination is larger than a predetermined value, and to execute transmitting the file to an accessible storing unit and transmitting an address of the storing unit to the destination, instead of transmitting the file when it is determined that the capacity of the file is larger than the predetermined value.
Preferably, the program according to the present invention allows the computer to execute designating the file to be transmitted, determining the capacity of the file, and transmitting the address of the storing unit, instead of transmitting the file, provided that the computer is connected to a network, and the transmission of the information is controlled by a mail server connected to the network.
In summary, in the present invention, it is determined whether or not a capacity of the file including the information which is to be transmitted is larger than a predetermined value and, then, according to the result of the determination, the file is transmitted from the mail server, etc., at the transmitting end to the mail server, etc., at the receiving end, or, the file is copied into the storing unit and the address of the storing unit is transmitted from the mail server, etc., at the transmitting end to the mail server, etc., at the receiving end. The address of the storing unit is displayed in an e-mail message, etc., automatically.
In more detail, when it is determined that a capacity of the file which is to be transmitted is the predetermined value or is smaller than the predetermined value, the file is transmitted as it is to a mail server, etc., at the receiving end and, when it is determined that a capacity of the file is larger than the predetermined value, the file is automatically replaced with the address, such as a URL of the storing unit which the file can be referred to, and only the address, such as the URL, is transmitted to the mail server, etc., at the receiving end.
As mentioned above, in the present invention, only when it is determined that the capacity of the file which is to be transmitted is the predetermined value or is smaller than the predetermined value, the file is transmitted from the mail server, etc., at the transmitting end to the mail server, etc., at the receiving end. Therefore, the mail server at the transmitting end or the receiving end is not over-loaded due to the capacity of the file. On the other hand, when the capacity of the file which is to be transmitted is larger than the predetermined value, the file is replaced with the address, such as the URL of the storing unit at which the file can be referred to, and the address, such as the URL, is registered automatically, and therefore, it is not required that the address of the storing unit is registered manually.
In addition, since the address of the storing unit is shown in an e-mail message, etc., automatically, an error in the case in which the address of the storing unit is input with a keyboard, etc., does not happen, and therefore, no inconvenience due to a notification error is caused at the receiving partner.